A Drink to Oddcy
by Adriana Dimitriov
Summary: Fox had been looking forward to Falco's return because it meant a return to normalcy. But what the Star Fox team got certainly wasn't that. [Vignette, Falco centric, again. XD Warning: mild alcohol usage, a lot bit of swearing, and ANGST. :p No pairings.]


Disclaimer: I don't own Star Fox. If I did don't you think I'd be flaunting it instead of writing angsty fanfiction? Plus Falco would get WAY more props. :p See bottom for Author's Note.

A Drink to Oddcy  
-----------------

Fox had come back to the Great Fox to find Falco outside, on the starboard upper wing, again. The last few times it had been simply to watch the Cornerian sunset and maybe to savor a feeling of irony--he'd helped the society that once cursed him and tried to drive him out. He'd mentioned that to Fox; not in so many words but with his gestures, and his tone. And Fox hoped that he was just sitting here, thinking, when he heard that Falco was outside.

This time, though, he was calmly downing the contents of bottle after bottle of beer.

When Falco saw Fox standing outside the hatch he reached out as if to hand Fox one of the slender, brown bottles. Instead of taking it, the vulpine merely seated himself next to his friend, though he didn't hang his feet over the edge as Falco was doing. Maybe Fox was just that way, or maybe Falco was in a particularly bad mood tonight. Time would tell.

"You look happy," he commented to the avian, who was wincing at the sound of a nearby cruiser. _Yeah, definitely getting drunk, would probably have a hangover tomorrow._

Fox didn't actually expect him to answer, but he did say after a long swallow, "Heh. Never better."

_Actually_, Fox thought, observing his friend as he used one of his talons to pop a cap off,_ it's probably that he's not happy._ Falco had been working in the mornings, sleeping in the afternoons, staying up at night. He was eating 'abnormally' as Rob had put it--only Rob knew what ticked inside that head of his, because Fox had no clue what 'abnormal' was, exactly; just that it was bad. He would have taken that all in stride, but just the other day, Slippy had crashed Falco's computer, and all that Falco did was calmly sit down and repair the damage as best as he could. And if there were files missing, well, he didn't say anything to Slippy.

It was creepy. To say the least.

They were sitting watching rigs and transports go by when Falco suddenly chuckled. Startled, Fox looked over at his friend, then over in the general direction of Falco's gaze. STARFOX: LAST HOPE was painted all over a nearby holostrip. Apparently it was an advertisement for a videogame.

"Fuck," Falco said, throwing one of the foamy bottles over the side of the Great Fox, letting out a sigh when it hit the sidewalk. His voice was a little slurred, and Fox frowned. "It's like they think we won't even play the stupid thing when it comes out."

"We won't, you know."

"Just 'cause we'll be busting our asses trying to save this place again."

_Not me,_ thought Fox.

"And don't tell me that nothing's gonna happen, bud." Falco threw another bottle over the side and leaned over to watch it fall. _Quit doing that,_ Fox wanted to say._ Be careful; you're not immune from the law._ "The Cornerian government's had their heads stuck up their asses for about the past decade and they're gonna keep having their heads stuck there for all fucking eternity."

Fox sighed. Maybe it would have been a good idea to take one of those beers, to drown the avian out with the buzz. He'd been hoping that Falco's return would have meant a return to normalcy--or at least as normal as things got, with his team. A return to--to the security of knowing that, yes, Peppy would constantly badger Falco about caution; no, Slippy wouldn't be able to resist looking through (and thus, breaking) Falco's various gadgets; and maybe, maybe maybe Falco would be happy once in a while.

But his return, while it was a stabilzing force for a while, had slowly rotted any sense of happiness the ship had been building. It wasn't that he was too ill-tempered; it was that he wasn't ill-tempered enough. It wasn't that he continually said things he shouldn't have said; it was that he never said anything mean, at all. Whereas he'd been all hubris and fire and piss and vinegar before, now . . . it was like he'd lost all desire to banter or even talk with his team at all.

That hurt; it stung worse than when he'd left.

"Well," Falco said, standing up and swaying hard. "I'm going inside . . . "

Fox let him. He wanted to punch Falco, hard, in the stomach. _Let him know that I'm pissed at him, for once. Let him know that I see my father in my dreams, again and again, every night, the same words in my mind, and the Aparoid Queen in my deepest of nightmares; let him know that I've been through torture for this place, and that it isn't fair for him to dismiss it just because he's drunk and angry._

But more than that, he wanted to know why. It wasn't fair to leave his teammates like that and never explain, never set things right with them. That pissed Fox off pretty bad, right there. Even Pepper had been hurt to hear the news, and Pepper almost never even talked to Falco.

It wasn't as if Fox could just up and ask him, though. He'd get angry. Storm off--almost undoubtedly. Fox wondered if that would be better for all of them in the end--to go again and let him explode so that they didn't have to wonder when it was going to happen. Then he remembered that he'd used the same tactic numerous times before, and that Falco Lombardi was a stubborn jackass who never did anything until he wanted to.

But--I wish I could get him to talk, even if it is just to yell at me.

All he could do was hope that things would change. If Falco was still the avian he knew, they would eventually. Until then, he would enjoy the beers that his friend gave him, and try to ignore the ache for the companion that he'd lost.

0-0-0-0-0

A/N: ZOMG, the ANGST. XD I haven't written a fic with even a semi-depressing ending in SUCH a long time, so this was kind of an exercise for me. :p I'm probably not going to expand on it.

BTW to those of you waiting patiently for the chappy of Refugee--I'M SORRY! I throw myself at your mercy. I'm still working on it, I promise.

Oh, and a side note, to explain the title: Normalcy - normal + odd Oddcy XD. Yes, I am WEIRD.

Please review, even if it is to flame. I luuurrrrrrve the attention. XD But seriously, comments are good, concrit is better, and flames make a wonderful snack. :D I love you guys!


End file.
